Environmental coalition decries decision to extend Davis-Besse's license
December 8, 2015 
The coalition of environmental groups that have been battling against FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company's (FENOC) bid to extend operations at its problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor for the past five years, have decried the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) approval of FENOC's application as a rubber-stamp. The coalition warns that the 2017 to 2037 extension, to be largely funded by multiple billions of dollars in ratepayer subsidies, if approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, amounts to another two decades of "radioactive Russian roulette" on the Lake Erie shoreline.
"Davis-Besse is a contrivance of regulatory neglect and corporate welfare. Without the existence of both, it would be a fading road bump in the transition to a full-employment, safe energy future," said Terry Lodge, a Toledo attorney, and the intervening environmental coalition's legal counsel.
The coalition is comprised of Beyond Nuclear, Citizen Environmental Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste MI, and the Ohio Green Party. Read the full press release.
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John Funk at the Cleveland Plain Dealer has reported on this story.
Tom Henry at the Toledo Blade reported:
A coalition of anti-nuclear groups opposed to the extension called the NRC’s decision an example of the agency’s systematic “rubber stamp” for license extensions.
“Davis-Besse is a contrivance of regulatory neglect and corporate welfare. Without the existence of both, it would be a fading road bump in the transition to a full-employment, safe energy future,” according to Terry Lodge, a Toledo attorney representing Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environmental Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don’t Waste Michigan, and the Ohio Green Party.
The groups said they are seeking to invalidate license extensions through a lawsuit Beyond Nuclear has filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington challenging the lack of a national repository for spent reactor fuel.
A coalition of environmental groups issued statements, saying the license renewal amounts to two decades of “radioactive Russian roulette.”...
They called the NRC extension a “rubber stamp” bailout that will cost ratepayers billions of dollars in subsidies in upcoming years.
“It would prop up the age-degraded, uncompetitive Davis-Besse atomic reactor, by surcharging households and businesses on their electricity bills,” the group said. “Twenty more years of operations at the problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor is unacceptably risky to public health and safety.
John Stinchcomb at the Port Clinton News Herald reported:
However, several environmental groups concerned about containment at Davis-Besse have denounced the NRC's decision and vow to continue the fight.
Victoria Clemons, a local activist in Port Clinton, is concerned about storage of the estimated 20 metric tons per year of irradiated nuclear fuel generated by the plant, adding a total of 400 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste to what is already there from the previous 40 years of operation.
"Yet again, NRC has shown it is flippantly fine with the generation, and storage, of high-level radioactive waste on the Great Lakes shoreline, for decades to come," Clemons said.
[In fact, Beyond Nuclear member and supporter Clemons has provided our standing in the legal appeal challenging NRC's Nuclear Waste Confidence policy.]